Solar Parking Lots

Solar Parking Lots represents sustainability, jobs and economic recovery in every community across our country.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Can I believe my eyes? 3 MW from only one shopping center in Wake
County? I'm double-checking, but yes folks, Beaver Creek Commons in
Apex has the capacity to generate 3 MW of electricity when you cover
those puppies with pv. Ok, so here's my guess-timate for all Wake
County: 100 MW (they've got a LOT of those large shopping centers!)...
*grin*

Friday, March 7, 2014

Hi all! I was working in Dreamweaver CC for class and came across these tips as part of the exercises we're doing. The text is Dreamweaver CC Digital Classroom so I thought to include mention.
Oh... note: the website is still up on the school's server, but I'll be working on it off and on for the next two months. If you happen to preview it, note that all the functionality might not be working as I experiment with different ideas and javascripts (Learning another language! A teacher once told me that for every word in a foreign language you learn each day you'll add a day onto your life. I just know that includes programming languages!)

Green Tips

At Home

Wash clothes in cold water

Hang clothes to dry

Turn off lights in empty rooms

Use motion sensors to turn lights on

Plan driving errands to combine trips

Walk more, drive less

Install Compact Fluorescent lighting (CFL)

Turn the thermostat down

Unplug AC/DC adapters when batteries are charged

Don’t use the dry cycle in the dishwasher

Install proper installation

Use reusable containers

Pick up canned and dry goods once a week or a month

Use glass and aluminium

Take your shoes off to save the carpet

Unplug unused appliances

Make cold dinners

Use Natural pesticides/fertilizers

Buy rechargeable batteries

Dispose of batteries properly

Buy fruits and vegetables locally

At Work

Use recycled paper.

Print on both sides of the paper

Turn your computer screen off when you leave your desk

Use single-serving coffee makers

Send electronic instead of paper documents

Buy rechargeable batteries

Provide ceramic coffee cups to employees

Buy equipment and supplies made locally whenever possible

Use motion sensors to turn lights on

Join a carpool or take public transportation

Turn the thermostat down

Buy only Energy Star equipment and appliances

Use email instead of fax or regular mail when possible

Install water filters on water taps, eliminate bottled water

Separate recyclable trash from garbage

If you don’t turn your computer off, put it in stand-by when you leave

Monday, February 24, 2014

The Solar Parking Lots NC website is being developed! I hope to finish the initial setup by the end of this week and then begin massaging all those excel lists into csv files in the proper format to import into Google Maps. And ArcGIS Online. I plan to do both. The Google Maps will be shown on the website and the Online Community of ESRI will have my group with the same data shown in maps there. (Plus there's that nice Storytelling app that just might come in handy for something or another down the line!)

So, hopefully, those csv files will start showing up in the maps on the website by the middle of March. Keep in mind that the website is divided into the five main regions of North Carolina: Western, Piedmont, Central, South Central and Eastern. These are the regions that most of the state government entities use. Within each region are listed the counties: 30 in the Western region, 24 in the Piedmont region, 12 in the Central region, 11 in the South Central region and 23 in the Eastern region. Each csv file represents one particular store. So you won't see how many large chain store parking lots there are per county until all csv lists are imported.

Stay tuned and I'll provide updates.

Here's the link to what is done thus far on the website. I'm using the school's server right now, so it may disappear. Keep checking here as I plan to get in up on some commercial setup soon. (Ah, is it improper to ask for donations here?)

I am loving doing this and I know deep down it will make a difference. I plan to keep going with the other southeastern states. I just hope and pray that monetary details will be taken care of in order for me to keep on providing input into this viable and feasible alternative to fossil fuels.

Solar Parking Lots NC
(Oh, there's no back link right now and I'm changing the logo (far left box on header) this week.)

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Sea level rise is starting to show up all over.......

By the time current children have children, there will be AT LEAST a
4-6 foot rise in sea level. 150 million people will be displaced at a 3
ft rise. Electricity supplies are affected at
a 4 ft rise. Help me promote Solar Parking Lots. It'll keep us moving
(electric vehicles if you please) while we accept and adjust.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

I've
checked my large chain store parking lot figures for North Carolina
against the Dun & Bradstreet database that ESRI's ArcGIS Business
Analyst Online uses and the total has grown... to 2326.

I'm working up a website (have to enter one in the NC State Fair for an assignment due Feb 23rd) so I'll be busy with that these next two weeks. Then it's mapping them all out by county. Then on to doing the actual calculations for the solar arrays (yes, per parking lot!).

Followers

About Me

I believe in renewable energy, specifically solar --- for parking lots. I'd rather be star mapping but someone has to do something about all those darn slabs that take tons of fossil fuel to create (the cement and/or asphalt), increase the imperviousness which in turn increases runoff & pollution in our watersheds, heat up the atmosphere, and prevent barefoot strolling on hot days! Tuned into spatial analysis and am building on the computer skills I began in the Air Force (database administrator, mainframes, base support computer, had that response time down to 1.5 seconds! And we had to seriously balance the i/o's on those platters! (oops, am I showing my age here?)). Covering all that paved parking area with photovoltaic panels will generate enough electricity for each community. Let's change those net metering laws, subsidize solar energy rather than the outdated gasoline automobile makers, put some solar arrays lids on all our parking lots, and start slamming amps through our engines! Charge up that spiffy EV at work! And keep some gradient in in our atmosphere, darn it. Ah, to go barefoot again on a stroll across the community....

I also am working on getting the recycling laws changed (and enforced)
here in NC. Trash Call is the name of that project which is on the back burner due to lack of time, and the funds to make time. But check out that blog for an interesting, albeit short, read. Trash Call was to get started with a mobile phone app used by folks to identify which bus stops needed recycling bins; after all, it isillegal for plastic bottles to enter the main waste stream. The app will be named Trash Callerz. Again, time and funds. Hopefully this will be a GIS Master's project for me soon.

Green Bagging It was to be the non-profit that came from Trash Call and would be dedicated to raising
awareness of the spatial impacts of recyclable material to
provide the NC prisoners with re-usable bags.